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Here's a look at the life of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL).
Birthdate: April 19, 1957
Place of birth: Aden, Yemen
Birth name: Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani
Father: Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance
Mother: Kokilaben Ambani
Marriage: Nita Ambani (1985-present)
Children: Akash and Isha (twins); An ant
Education: Institute of Chemical Technology, University of Bombay (now Mumbai), B.S., Chemical Engineering, 1979; Attended Stanford University, 1979-1980
Lifestyle and wealth
Ambani is a strict vegetarian, teetotaler and an avid fan of Bollywood movies.
At her daughter Isha Ambani's 2018 wedding to businessman Anand Piramal, celebrity guests were treated to a private, intimate concert by Beyoncé.
The Ambanis' 27-story, 400,000-square-foot tower house in Mumbai is known as Antilia. It cost one billion dollars to build and has a spa, three helipads and a theater with capacity for 50 people.
RIL is a Fortune Global 500 company and “India's largest private sector corporation.”
Under Ambani's leadership, Reliance Industries has grown from a textile, oil and energy company to a sprawling conglomerate that includes retail stores, a broadband and mobile operator, digital platforms, groceries, electronics and more.
Career, Business and Family
1957 – After Dhirubhai Ambani returns from Yemen, he sets up a small yarn trading company in Mumbai which he later turns into a thriving textile business.
1977 – Reliance Textile Industries IPO takes place.
1980 – He is withdrawing from his MBA program at Stanford University to help build a polyester yarn plant for Reliance in India.
1985 – The name of the company changes from Reliance Textile Industries Ltd. to Reliance Industries Ltd.
July 6, 2002 – Dhirubhai Ambani passes away at the age of 69. He leaves no will, sparking a bitter dispute between Mukesh Ambani and his younger brother, Anil Ambani, over control of the vast Reliance business empire.
July 31, 2002 – In a board meeting, Mukesh is announced as chairman of Reliance Group of Industries and Anil is appointed vice-chairman and managing director.
November 2004 – A feud between the brothers becomes public when the elder Ambani admits there are “ownership issues” at Reliance during an interview with CNBC TV18.
June 18, 2005 – Kokilaben Ambani announces that he has brokered a deal between his children to split the $23 billion Reliance Group. Mukesh will control the company's core oil, petrochemicals and textile assets along with Reliance Industries, while Anil takes control of newer ventures including telecom and digital businesses. Although separate, both companies will retain the Reliance name.
2008 – Through Reliance Industries, Ambani and his wife, Nita, buy the Indian Premier League cricket team Mumbai Indians for $111 million.
2010 – The Reliance Foundation, a non-profit organisation, is established “to give impetus to various philanthropic initiatives of RIL”.
May 7, 2010 – India's Supreme Court rules in favor of Mukesh Ambani's RIL over Anil Ambani's company, ruling that the natural gas supply price they agreed to in 2005 will have to be renegotiated within six weeks.
September 5, 2016 – Ambani launches a mobile network called Reliance Jio that offers customers six months of free high-speed internet. The measure triggers a brutal price war, forcing some companies to abandon the mobile market entirely.
March 2019 – Ambani helps pay off a 5.5 billion rupees ($80 million) debt to Swedish mobile phone company Ericsson that India's top court had ordered Anil Ambani and his company, Reliance Communications, to pay or face three months of jail.
March-November 2020 – Ambani raises over $27 billion in investments for Jio Platforms, including $5.7 billion from Facebook and $4.5 billion from Google. Since its inception in 2016, Jio has amassed around 400 million users and launched a streaming service, a video conferencing app, a fiber broadband network and digital payments.
April 30, 2020 – Ambani announces that he will not take home a salary until the impact of the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
February 25, 2021 – A car containing explosives and an alleged threat letter is found outside Ambani's house in Mumbai. On March 14, 2021, Mumbai Police officer Sachin Vaze is arrested for his alleged involvement in the case.
August 29, 2022 – While insisting he has no intention of retiring anytime soon, Ambani lays out his plan for his children to take over his $220 billion RIL empire, telling shareholders of his Reliance Industries conglomerate that his three children are ” first among equals” and are being “coached daily by our senior leaders, including me.”
February 28, 2024 – Ambani's Reliance Industries and Disney have combined their digital streaming platforms and 100 television channels in India to create a new media giant valued at about $8.5 billion, the companies say in a statement. Ambani's wife Nita Ambani will be the chairperson of the joint venture.
